Differential clinical diagnosis and prevalence rate of allergic rhinitis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among COVID‐19 patients

Sarhan, Rania M; Mohammad, Mohammad F; Boshra, Marian S.

BACKGROUND: There is a great need to make a rapid differential clinical diagnosis of COVID‐19 among respiratory disease patients and determining the prevalence rate of these diseases among the COVID‐19 population. METHOD: Approximately 522 patients with allergic rhinitis, asthma, COPD, and COVID‐19 were analysed for demographic and clinical features. Radiological features were analysed only for COVID‐19 patients. RESULTS: COPD and asthma were more common among COVID‐19 patients than allergic rhinitis. All chest CT scans of COVID‐19 patients showed bilateral ground‐glass opacity. Fever, dry cough, diarrhea, loss of sense of smell and taste, shortness of breath, and blue lips were significantly higher in all COVID‐19 patients compared to COPD, asthma, and allergic rhinitis patients. CONCLUSION: The presence of clinical symptoms such as fever, dry cough, diarrhea, loss of sense of smell and taste, shortness of breath, and blue lips in COVID‐19 patients, can be used for differential diagnosis between COVID‐19 patients and other respiratory diseases. Then, the diagnosis can be confirmed by chest CT scan for COVID‐19 patients without the need for a nasopharyngeal swab or PCR test, especially in epidemic countries. Allergic rhinitis patients are the least exposed to COVID‐19 infection among other respiratory disease patients.